


Someone like you

by stjra



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Wincest - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-03
Updated: 2011-12-03
Packaged: 2017-10-26 19:53:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stjra/pseuds/stjra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dean comes to see his newly married brother to say his goodbyes and move on from a past that could never and should never had been.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Someone like you

**Author's Note:**

> The idea for this little fic came to life one afternoon on the drive home from work with Adele’s - Someone like you playing in the background. It’s AU from the time Sam leaves for Stanford. Only a short piece, but it let the angsty side of the muse out to play so I’m happy. :) I would love to hear what you think of it.

Dean looked through the slightly grimy glass of the coffee shop from his vantage point of the table set on the sidewalk.

His gaze was fix on the entwined hands of his brother and his new wife as they sat side by side, snuggled close in their booth seat, completely oblivious to the rest of the world and its goings on.

Dean couldn’t help the small, sad smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth as his brother’s face shone with love and devotion, beyond anything Dean had seen grace his little brother’s face in a long time. As the young couple leaned in to share an intimate kiss, Dean couldn’t help but drop his gaze as the hurt reared its ugly head again.

He knew he should be happy for his brother, and he was, how could he not be with Sammy clearly so happy. It was just, in a small quiet dark place in Dean’s mind (that if he was honest with himself he escaped to a little more often then he ever should), he had always held out a tiny spark of hope that it would be him that would make Sam that happy. Once upon a time in their dark and fractured past he’s pretty sure he had, well at least as happy as Sam could be in their volatile life.

Looking back up to see Sam staring at him with mild suspicion only twisted the knife a little more. Before he could think too much about it, he pushed up from his chair and moved into the coffee shop and slid up to the side of their booth with a cocky smile firmly in place.

“Howdy lovebirds,” he teased as he did everything he could to avoid Sam’s intense questioning gaze. The kid probably thought he was here to make trouble or drag him back into the life. Not that he could blame him, it’s not like Dean had ever really given him much opportunity to every see him as much more than his bossy big brother, well except for those times that he didn’t really want to think of right now.

“What are you doing here Dean?” Sam asked his voice tight and controlled, his eyes searching for hidden meaning.

The beautiful blonde beside him looked between them sharply, “wait, your brother Dean?” she said with an emerging smile. “The one you never stop going on about?” she teased as she smiled up at Dean with a curious tilt of her head, clearly curious about the only family member Sam was willing to talk about.

Dean grinned and jumped in before Sam had to, “that’s me, the irresistible and irrepressible Dean,” he supplied with a wink at the young woman, his face shifting subtly when he saw irritation flit across Sam’s face. Sam never did like the cocky bravado act, but it’s all Dean had to offer when anything else risked pulling his heart out of his chest and stomping on it in the dust.

“Why are you here, Dean?” Sam asked again, this time his voice a little sharper, the worry that Dean was here to stake his claim clear.

“Sam! Why are you being so rude?” Sam’s wife asked, her beautiful face twisted with disbelief and more than a hint of concern. “Sit with us, I’m Jess by the way,” she directed at Dean as she frowned at a silent and apprehensive Sam.

“No...I’m just passing through, thought I’d say hi to the little brother’s hot new wife before I moved on,” Dean declined as he kept his gaze on Sam, trying to let him know silently that he understood and wouldn’t interfere here. He just wanted to see for himself that Sam really was happy now.

“Same as always then Dean, here today and gone again tomorrow, no time for real commitment. Maybe one day, hey Dean?” Sam replied the hurt underlying the question, sending a pang of guilt through Dean. He was the one that let Sam walk away to college, rejecting his plea to leave the hunt and Dad and go with him. He’d asked Dean to do the one thing he could never do and now he had lost him.

“Yeah...maybe one day. There’s bound to be someone out there that gets me like you do,” Dean answered his sad gaze firmly focused on Sam.

Sam broke his gaze with a hard swallow and cleared his throat before gently squeezing a confused Jess’ hand.

“Have I missed part of this conversation or something?” Jess asked, her face a mask of confusion and slight suspicion.

Before her thoughts could lead her to dangerous places, Dean clapped his hands together and clamped a genial hand on Jess’ shoulder.

“Nah, just sibling stuff. Anyway, it was good to meet you Jess, you’re completely out of my brother’s league, but I’m proud of him for catching you and tagging you anyway,” Dean winked at her, before straightening and looking directly at Sam until he reluctantly met Dean’s gaze.

“Congrats, little brother, you’ve done good...I’m proud of you,” Dean said, his eyes offering an apology for turning up unannounced, but clear in his good will for them both.

Sam smiled softly, “thanks Dean, that means a lot.”

Dean nodded, his lips pursed as his throat closed over at the finality of it all.

He cleared his throat and nodded again, “right...well, take care of yourselves and think of me fondly when you’re naming your first kid,” Dean smirked, stepping back nervously, almost collecting a waitress in the process.

“Ha...well best I be off before I take out all the staff, good to meet you Jess...Sam, later dude,” Dean finished with a tight wave, before he spun on his heel and all but ran out the door.

He was almost to the Impala when he felt a hand on his shoulder. His first instinct was to spin around and deck them, but experience and sense memory told him it was his brother’s hand.

“Dean, hey!” Sam demanded as he pulled Dean around to face him, Jess hovering ten feet away at the doorway of the shop they had just exited.

“What the hell, man? What was that?” Sam asked his face pinched tight with hurt.

“Sam,” Dean sighed as he shut his eyes to the pain shimmering in the depths of Sam’s gaze.

“I asked you to come,” Sam said simply, the connotations of that statement clear as he moved into Dean’s person space.

Dean took a deep breath, the pain in his chest crushing, “I know Sam, it’s okay. You’re happy now, I will be too...one day. No hard feelings man, choices were made, this is our lives now,” Dean replied, feeling some of the pressure in his chest release when he realised he actually did mean it. He only wanted the best for his brother and deep down, he was never going to be that for Sam. It was better this way. They could both move on and leave it in the past were it belonged.

“I only want the best for you Sammy, and you’ve found it, look after it, okay?” Dean pleaded as he smiled tightly at his brother, his throat closing over his emotion.

Sam looked down at his hands for a second, his fingers twisting in on themselves, before he took a deep breath and meet Dean gaze intently.

“Yeah, I will. Look after yourself okay?” Sam asked as he squeezed Dean’s shoulder with a nod of his head.

“Course, you too,” Dean answered his voice tight and raw.

Sam nodded and squeezed Dean’s shoulder again, his reluctance to let go clear in his jerky movements as he pat his hand in place.

“See you round?” Sam asked with a hint of hopefulness in his voice.

Dean flicked his eyes away, unable to lie directly to Sam’s face, “yeah, sure, see ya round, Sam,” Dean smiled sadly, his gaze meeting Sam’s briefly before he turned back to the car and continued on his way.

As Dean drove away, Sam’s sorrowful face remained clear in his view miles after he had left his motionless brother standing on the curb with is future standing at his side.


End file.
